Apparatus for effecting disintegration of materials



K. WANDEL June 9, 1953 APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING DISINTEGRATION OFMATERIALS Filed Oct. 14. 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Snnentor KURT M A/VDELattorney K. WANDEL June 9, 1953 APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING DISINTEGRATIONOF MATERIALS Filed Oct. 14, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Kuer (M/05L GttornegJune 9, 1953 WANDEL 2,641,165

APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING DISINTEGRATION OF MATERIALS 3 SheetsSheet 5Filed Oct. 14, 1949 INVENTOR.

s8 k027- l MNOEL etc.

, lectors thereof.

'With metal foil and insoluble binders.

Patented June 9, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING DISINTEGRA- TION OF MATERIALS This invention relates to apparatus foreffecting disintegration, reduction or separation into their constituentparticles or fibres of materials that may be floated, suspended ordispersed in a liquid medium such as water.

The expression effecting a disintegration, re-

duction or separation into their constituent particles or fibres is usedbroadly and is intended to include disintegration, defiberization,abrading, grating, scraping, rasping, rending, decortieating,comminuting, shredding, carding, combing, blending and mixing.

Effecting aRefining Treatment of Fibrous Material.

The novel apparatus of the present invention has a wide field of utilityand may be used to disintegrate, to reduce or to separate into theirconstituent particles or fibres, materials of vegetable, animal ormineral origin. For example, it may be used to disintegrate, tear apartand even card the bundles of fibres in paper stock, pulp, rags, leatheror asbestos. It may be used to decorticate or remove the outside barksor other coatings from the woody stems of highly ligneous plants such ashemp, jute, China grass, It may further be used to comminute or shredmaterials such as garbage so as to facilitate the removal and disposalof the heavy and insoluble portions thereof. It may'also be used to formsuspensions and dispersions containing pulp or other comminutedmaterials and thoroughly to intermix and blend such materials withvarious other fibrous and/or non-fibrous materials.

As will appear more fully hereinafter, the apparatus of the presentinvention is particularly ,suited for processing waste papers as theyare received by the paper manufacturers from the col- This has proved tobe one of the most important fields of utility of the present inventionsince the machine is capable of handling the waste papers in the form inwhich they are recevied from the collectors thereof, with their contentof foreign materials such as rags, string, rubberized fabric, rubber,wire and metal parts, besides such apparently harmless things as wetstrength paper, parchmentized paper, paper treated with oils, parafiine,asphalt, rubber and synthetic resins and paper laminated Not only.

has the present invention proved to be useful in effecting the pulpingof waste papers and the initial separation of the pulp from the foreignmaterials, but it effects such pulping more quick- 1y, more thoroughlyand with less power consumption than it can be effected by the use ofexisting machines for such purposes.

An important feature of the invention which, probably more than anythingelse, contributes to its effectiveness as a disintegrator is theemploymentof a disintegrating impeller of a hollow or dished or concaverotating disk provided on the marginal portion Of its hollow or concaveface with particles of a hard cutting or abrasive material firmly fixedthereon, as contrasted with disintegrating devices in the prior artconsisting either of ordinary propellers or of fiat disks provided withvanes. The impeller of the present invention is so constructed that itinsures the movement of the liquid in the vat over the disintegratingsurface in such manner that it hugs this surface throughout its movementthereover and therefore forces any material to be disintegrated, whichis carried thereby, into abrasive relation to the abrasive coatedmarginal portion of the hollow face of the disk.

It will be apparent that the hollow impeller may have its hollow faceeither of concave, that is, of curved segment contour, or of conical orconical segment contour, the important consideration being that theinner face Of the impeller disk be inclined to the radius of rotation atsubstantially all points from the bottom of the hollow to its lip or atleast so inclined through the abrasive zone. It will further be apparentthat, since the effective abrading action of the impeller takes place onthe abrasive coated margin of the hollow disk, the shape of the bottomof the hollow may be varied considerably without effecting the operativeefficiency of the disk as a whole. For example, in a concave disk it isnot necessary to carry the spherical or other curvature down to the axisof rotation, the disk being equally effective if the curved segment atthe bottom be out off and a flat bottom be provided. Likewise, in thecase of a hollow or dished disk having a conical side wall, the bottomof the disk may likewise be flat making the hollow disk have the form ofa shallow frustum of a cone.

It will further be seen that by mounting a disk of the characterdescribed upon the end of a shaft projecting through a wall of the vat,so that the hollow side of the disk is uninterrupted ly exposed to thevat contents, and constructing the disk so that it is symmetrical aboutthe axis of rotation, the aforementioned efiectivedisintegratingoperationwill be obtained by reason of the fact thatcentrifugal force, acting upon the liquid as it passes from the bottomof the hollow toward the lip of the disk, tends to throw the liquid outat right angles to the axis of rotation, such movement of the liquid ina plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation being resisted by theinner face of the concave or frustoconical disk, which is, atsubstantially all points from the bottom of its hollow to its lip,inclined to the radii of rotation, and thus the liquid will be pressedagainst this face by the component of the centrifugal force which isperpendicular to the face. This insures the liquid and its solid contentbeing forced against the abrasive or cutting particles with which asubstantial marginal portion of the inner or hollow face of the disk iscoated.

I am aware that the prior art discloses disintegrating apparatusconsisting of an impeller mounted within a tub for rapid rotation. Theimpellers in prior art devices however hollow, were not concave ordish-shaped and therefore could not be provided with abrasive coatedmargins over which the material to be disintegrated is forced to travelin close-pressed relation, by reason of the hollow construction, butwere pro vided at most with a plurality of projecting smooth vanes. Theuse of prior devices has been limited to those operations, usually on arelatively small scale, in which thoroughness of disintegration,suspension and dispersion as well as power consumption were not ofparticular importance.

In marked contrast with devices of the prior art, the apparatus of theinvention produces practically complete disintegration or tearing actionwith the consumption of considerably less power and in much less time.In fact, this time saving in effecting a complete disintegration,

suspension and dispersion, for example, in the i erence has nothereinabove been made, will appear hereinafter when the followingdescription and claims are considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of adisintegrating machine embodying the present invention and which isparticularly designed for pulping paper stock; Figure 2 is a sideelevation, with parts broken .away to show the interior construction, ofthe machine shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional detail of a disintegrating impellerand of the end of the vat in which it is located, this view showing aslight modification of the impeller shown in Figure 2 and being taken onthe line 33 of Figure 4;

Figure 4 is a detail front elevation of the impeller structure shown inFigure 3;

Figure 5 is a sectional detail of a modified impeller lip construction;

Figure 6 is a view of a modified impeller construction in which thehollow impeller disk is formed of a frustum of a cone instead of asegment of a sphere, this view also showing the modified lipconstruction of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a plan view of a blank from which the frsuto-conical disk ofFigure 6 can readily be made;

Figure 8 is a plan detail showing the manner of completing thefrusto-conical impeller shown in Figure 6;

Figure 9 shows a modified form of theinvention in which a plurality ofimpellers are located on the side wall at equiangular distances aboutthe axis of a vertical cylindrical vat, this figure being a horizontalsection on the line 99 of Figure 10;

Figure 10 is a partial side elevation of the disintegrator shown inFigure 9, partially in section, the section being taken on the line l0l0of Figure 9.

In one of the most efficient embodiments of the invention, namely, thatshown in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, two disintegrating impellers 2are located in the opposed end walls of a tank or vat 4 of the generalcontour shown in Figures 1 and 2, this tank or vat having a centralsubstantially cylindrical part connecting two concave ends, in theconcavities of which the impellers 2 are located. The radii'of curvatureof the concave vat ends is preferably somewhat greater than the radii ofcurvature of the impellers 2, when these are of spherical segment form.The material to be disintegrated by the disintegrating impellers 2 isintroduced into the vat 4 through a hopper 6 communicating with theinterior of the vat through an opening in the top thereof, the vat beingsupported against movement by any suitable supporting means such as theconcrete or other base 8 upon which it rests. In ordinary installations,particularly where the vat is of substantial diameter, for example 8feet, the floor or base 8 upon which the vat is supported may be in oneroom and the material to be disintegrated may be carried to the hopper 6over the fioor H) of a room above the disintegrator or pulper.

In the form of the invention shown in Figures 1 and 2, the disintegratorcomprises a hollow steel disk, preferably having upon its outer margina, turned-over lip I2, a substantial marginal portion of the concaveface of the disk and preferably the whole of the turned over lip I2, ifthe disk be provided with such a lip, being coated with particles I4 ofa suitable hard cutting or abrasive material, such as tungsten carbide,these particles being held upon the face of the disk and upon the lip byany suitable flux or binder. I have found in practice that a verysatisfactory material for providing the working surfaces of the impellerdisks 2 with abrading or disintegrating surfaces is that which is soldunder the trade name Tube Borium. The bonding material of this productwhich secures the: tungsten carbide particles in place on the surface tobe treated, that is, the mild steel of the tube in which the tungstencarbide particles are delivered to the user, is stated to have ananalysis which shows the non-ferrous ingredients of the steel to be asfollows:

Phosphorous .03 Carbon .06

Silicon .15

Sulphur .03 Manganese .30

These particles of tungsten carbide, distributed over the workingsurfaces of the disintegrating impellers and bonded thereto in themanner set forth, provide a most effective means for effect ing thedisintegration, reduction or separation into their constituent particlesor fibres of materials that may be floated, suspended or dispersed in aliquid medium, such as water, and carried in this medium to the pointsof disintegration. The manner in which this movement of the material tobe disintegrated into operaass gns tive relation to the disintegratingparticles on supports 28 and 30 andeach shaft has thereon a multipleV-belt pulley 32 driven from a driving V-belt pulley 34 of an electricmotor 36.

Discharge of the pulp stock may be effected through the bottom of thevat 4 into a discharge pipe 38 discharging into any suitable receptaclelocated, for example, on the floor below, the discharge being controlledby a gate valve 40 operated by any suitable manually controlled means,such as the valve operating wheel 42.

From the foregoing description of the form of the invention shown inFigures 1 and 2 the operation of the device will readily be understood.It will be understood that these pulpers or disintegrators are ofsubstantial capacity. For example, if the tank 4 be of a cylindricaldiameter of approximately 8 feet and of the proportional length shown inthe drawings, the impeller disk 2 will be, if in the form of a plainspherical segment, about 56 inches in diameter. If provided with therounded lips such as shown in greater detail in Figures 3 and 6, it willbe of somewhat greater overall diameter, say 60 inches. The radius ofcurvature of the spherical segment is usually substantially equal to thediameter of the circle defined by its peripheral edge. A commercialembodiment of such a disintegrato-r, provided with approximately 3200gallons of water, and with the impeller disks each rosired. The time ofoperation for each batch may be from to 30 minutes or even less.

The operation of the impeller and its eifective- 'ness as adisintegrator is perhaps the most important feature of the presentinvention. It will be seen that, when the impeller is rotated, for

example, at a speed such as suggested above, the cutting or abrasiveparticles l4, making up the disintegrating surface on the marginalportion of the hollow face of the impeller disk 2, create a movement inthe water in the vat 4 which tends to throw the water and any particlesof material carried thereby off the peripheral edge of the disk thuscreating an outward stream from the hollow central part of the disk tothe peripheral edge or lip of the disk. This stream tends to move in aplane at right angles to the axis of rotation of the impeller disk 2 andthus tends to hug those parts of the inner or hollow face of the diskwhich are obliquely inclined to the radius of rotation. The centrifugalforce thus forces this outwardly moving stream and any particles carriedthereby to travel over the particles [4 in forced contact therewith.This insures an effective abrading action of the particles upon anymaterial carried by the water that is moving first into the bottom ofthe hollow of the disk and being thus thrown out from the peripherythereof.

For many purposes the lip l2 on the'peripheral portion of the impeller 2is not needed. When, however, bundles of papers which might be ofsufficient dimensions to bridge the diameter of the disk are thrown intothe disintegrator or pulper it is advantageous to have a rounded lip,such as the lip [2 with the abrading particles thereon, since these willserve to disintegrate and cut through the supporting parts of anybridging material and thus insure its eventual movement into the hollowof the impeller and its travel over the margin of the hollow face of thedisk which has been provided with the abrasive surface. 1

In the manufacture of impellers 2 of the form shown in Figures 1 and 2,it is sometimes found diflicult to dynamically balance the impellers andto mount them upon the shafts l6 so that they will be sufiicientlystrongly supported to perform their heavy duties. This is sometimes soeven when the impellers have reinforcing pieces 44 welded to their innerfaces. Since the bottom of the concavity in a completely concaveimpeller performs very little useful work in the operation thereof, Ihave found it advantageous in some cases to construct these impellers inthe manner shown in Figures 3 and 4. In the modified form of theimpeller construction there shown I cut out a substantial portion of thecenter of the impeller disk and weld into this cutout, which may be of adiameter of 14 inches or more for an impeller 56 inches in diameter, afiat disk 46 of heavier steel which will give a more rigid connection tothe enlarged end 48 of the shaft [6 and will tend to reduce any lateralvibration of the impeller disk 2. This plate 46 may be provided withscrew openings 50 through which machine screws 52 may be screwed intoopenings tapped into the enlarged end 48 in the shaft 16.

Since the shaping of the impeller disk 2 to the sectional contour'shownin Figure 3, that is, with the lip 12 integral therewith, is a somewhatdifficult manufacturing operation, I have found it advantageous to formthe lip l2 upon segments 54, which may also be of radial dimensionssufficient to constitute the inner marginal surface of the disk which isto be covered with the abrasive material. Since the lip l2 can easily beformed on each of these segments 54, if the segment does not embrace toogreat an arc of the circumference of the propeller disk 2, this is aneasy Way of forming both the lip and theabrasive margin of the disk,these segments being then welded in place as shown at 56. I

A slight modification of the impeller disk construction, whichfacilitates manufacturing while providing an impeller which issubstantially as effective as that shown in Figures 1 to 5', inclusive,is the one shown in Figures 6 to 8 inclusive. In this form of theinvention the hollow surface over which the liquid is forced to travel,instead of being formedas a segment of a sphere, is formed as a segmentor frustum of a cone, that is, it is This permits easy manufacture ofthe disk since a flat annular blank 58 having a sector cut therefrom,such as shown in Figure 7, may be bent up into frusto-conical form,thereby causing its edges 60 and 62 to meet. These edges may then bewelded together as shown at -64 and the weld smoothed off, thusproviding a hollow disk which may have its marginal surface directlycoated or to which coated segment plates 54 may center 66' may beprovided with a supporting disk 46, welded thereto in the manner shownin Figure 3 in connection with the spherical segment disk there shown.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figures 9 and 10 of thedrawings, which is particularly suited to treatment of coarser wastematerials, there are four disintegrating impellers 2, shown as located90 apart on the inner wall of a cylindrical vat 68 having a verticalaxis. As in the case of the embodiment of the invention shown in Figures1 and 2, the impellers 2 are mounted on the inner ends of shafts 10extending through stufling boxes 12 mounted upon the outer walls of thevat 68, each of the shafts I being mounted in bearings 14 on columns 16and carrying between said bearings 14 a multiple V-belt pulley l8 drivenfrom a small multiple V-belt pulley 80 on the driving shaft of a motor82.

The vat 68 has a frusto-conical bottom 84 provided with an openingcommunicating with a discharge pipe 86 controlled by a valve 88 operatedby hand wheel 90.

The vat 68 may be supported on a suitable metal framework comprisinglegs 92 directly supporting the vat. Other legs 94 support platforms 96for the driving mechanisms for the respective impellers 2.

As in the case of the form of the invention shown in Figures 1 and 2,the open top of the vat 2 preferably projects through a floor 98 into aroom above. The material to be disintegrated or pulped can be wheeledover the floor 98 and dumped into the open upper end of the vat 68.

In the operation of either form of the invention, either that shown inFigures 1 and 2 or that shown in Figures 9 and 10, the liquid in thevat, With its content of fibrous material to be disintegrated will be ofa depth completely to cover the impeller disks or in other words it willsubstantially fill either the vat 4 or the vat 68. As the impellers 2rotate, for example at the speed for a 56 inch diameter impellerhereinabove suggested, namely 300 R. P, M., giving a peripheral speedfor said 56 inch impeller of 4400 feet per minute, the liquid movinginto the bottom of the hollow of each impeller and then toward the lipthereof under the action of the strong centrifugal force thus createdwill produce a marked circulation in the tank, liquid to replace thatthrown off from the lip of each impeller constantly moving to the bottomof the hollow in the impeller and thus being forced to travel over theabrading surface of the impeller, thereby carrying the material to bedisintegrated into engagement with the surface. In the form of theinvention shown in Figures 1 and 2 the impellers 2 are usually, but notnecessarily, driven in the same clockwise or counterclockwise directionsabout the axes of their respective shafts which, by reason of theiropposed relation, makes their surfaces rotate in opposite directions inthe liquid of the tank. This causes the production of an hour glass orfigure 8 movement of the material in the vat or tank.

In the form of the invention shown in Figures 9 and 10, the impellers 2also, preferably but not necessarily, rotate in the same direction aboutthe axes of their shafts. This, as in the case of the invention shown inFigures 1 and 2, causes the surfaces of the opposed impellers to travelin opposite directions through the liq- .uid.

Although junk traps or junk removers may be connected to the vat 4 or tothe vat 68, it has been found in practice that the junk can be carriedoff with the stock and removed by screens outside the vats.

Although, for manufacturing reasons, impellers made up of hollow disksof either spherical segment contour or frusto-conical contour aregenerally preferable, it will be understood that there is no intentionto limit the invention to impellers in which the hollow disks are ofeither spherical segment or frusto-conical contour. It is apparent thatother shapes of hollow disks, such as a segment of an ellipsoid or ahollow disk generated by a hyperbolic curve, would be equally effectiveso long as the hollow face provided meets the definitions hereinabovegiven of the surface required for carrying the abrasive material.

What is claimed as new is:

l. Distintegrating apparatus having in combination a vat adapted tocontain water and the material to be disintegrated and a disintegratingimpeller in said vat comprising a concave disk having its main bodyportion of hollow spheroidal configuration, the radius of curvature ofsaid body portion being approximately equal to the diameter of the disk,said disk having permanently bonded to the marginal portion of itsconcave face a covering of crystalline abrasive material of discreteparticles, and means supporting the disk for rotation at high peripheralspeed about an axis to which said disk is symmetrical including adriving shaft projecting through the wall of said vat upon which saiddisk is mounted with its concave side fully exposed to the contents ofthe vat.

2. The disintegrating apparatus of claim 1 wherein the marginal edge ofsaid impeller is curved outwardlyaway from the surface of the main bodyof said disk, said marginal edge. being covered with abrasive materialas described.

3. Disintegrating apparatus having in combination a vat adapted tocontain water and the material to be disintegrated and a disintegratingimpeller in said vat comprising a concave disk, means supporting thedisk for rotation at high peripheral speed including a driving shaftprojecting through the wall of said vat upon which said disk is mountedwith its concave side fully exposed to the contents of the vat, saidconcave side forming a cavity for the reception of material movingaxially toward said disk with the surface of the marginal portion ofsaid cavity inclined at a small angle away from a plane normal to theaxis of rotation whereby material moving outwardly across the face ofsaid disk will be deflected axially, and a covering of crystallineabrasive material of discrete particles permanently bonded to saidmarginal portion.

4. Disintegrating apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the edge of thedisk is curved away from the plane of said marginal portion and iscovered with abrasive material as above described.

KURT WANDEL.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 2,139,274 Justice Dec. 6, 1938 2,336,798 Nash Dec. 14, 19432,452,135 Lowe Oct. 26, 1948 OTHER REFERENCES Rice Barton Publication,page 18 of the Paper Trade Journal, September 22, 1949.

